Timing Advance Indication for Multi-panel Uplink Transmissions

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus for wireless communications are described. In some systems, a user equipment (UE) may communicate with multiple transmit receive points (TRPs) associated with a base station using multiple panels, and each panel of the UE may be associated with a different timing advance value. Signaling of multiple timing advance values ​​from a base station to a UE may be associated with a large overhead. In some implementations of the present disclosure, a base station and a UE may support methods and algorithms for deriving multiple timing advance values ​​from a single timing advance value. For example, a base station may transmit a timing advance value to a UE, and the UE may derive a timing advance value for each panel of the UE based on the received timing advance value and the timing of a downlink signal received at each panel of the UE.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The following relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions.

[0002] background

[0003] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content, such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcasting, etc. These systems may be able to support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems (such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, advanced LTE (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems), and fifth generation (5G) systems, which may be referred to as new radio (NR) systems. These systems may use various technologies, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform extended orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple access communication system may include one or more base stations or one or more network access nodes, each base station or network access node simultaneously supporting the communication of multiple communication devices, which may be referred to as user equipment (UE) in addition.

[0004] In some wireless communication systems, a UE may communicate with multiple transmit reception points (TRPs). To support successful communication between multiple TRPs, the UE may receive additional signaling for each of the multiple TRPs. Such additional signaling may result in increased overhead and lower spectral efficiency.

[0005] Overview

[0006] In some systems, a user equipment (UE) may support multi-panel communications with a base station and may communicate with the base station via multiple transmit receive points (TRPs). In some cases, the UE may include multiple panels for communication to the base station, for example, each panel communicates with a different TRP associated with the base station. In some cases, the UE may receive a timing advance value for each of the multiple TRPs, which may result in increased overhead and lower spectral efficiency. In the present disclosure, the described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices, and apparatuses for supporting timing advance indications for multi-panel uplink transmissions. In general, the described techniques provide receiving a single timing advance value at the UE, and determining timing advance values ​​for multiple panels of the UE based on the single timing advance value and the timing of downlink signals received at multiple panels of the UE. The UE may communicate with the base station via multiple TRPs accordingly. In some examples, the received timing advance value may be a timing advance value for a reference panel of the UE, and the UE may determine a timing advance value for each of the remaining panels relative to the timing advance value for the reference panel. In some other implementations, the received timing advance value may be an average (eg, a mean) of timing advance values ​​for multiple panels of the UE, and the UE may determine the timing advance value for each of the multiple panels relative to the average timing advance value.

[0007] A method of wireless communication at a UE is described. The method may include: receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication from a base station; determining a first timing advance value for a first panel and a second timing advance value for a second panel based on the received timing advance value and a timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; and communicating with one or more TRPs associated with the base station based on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

[0008] An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE is described. The apparatus may include a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication from a base station; determine a first timing advance value for a first panel and a second timing advance value for a second panel based on the received timing advance value and the timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; and communicate with one or more TRPs associated with the base station based on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

[0009] Another apparatus for wireless communication at a UE is described. The apparatus may include means for receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication from a base station; determining a first timing advance value for a first panel and a second timing advance value for a second panel based on the received timing advance value and a timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; and communicating with one or more TRPs associated with the base station based on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

[0010] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a UE is described. The code may include instructions executable by a processor to: receive a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication from a base station; determine a first timing advance value for a first panel and a second timing advance value for a second panel based on the received timing advance value and a timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; and communicate with one or more TRPs associated with the base station based on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

[0011] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatuses, or instructions for the following actions: determining that a first panel may be a reference panel, wherein applying a timing advance value to the first panel may be based on determining that the first panel may be a reference panel.

[0012] Some examples of methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving an indication from a base station that the first panel may be a reference panel.

[0013] In some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the indication is received via at least one of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), or downlink control information (DCI).

[0014] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, a first panel is associated with a first panel ID that is lower than a second panel identifier (ID) associated with a second panel, wherein determining that the first panel is a reference panel is based on the first panel ID being lower than the second panel ID.

[0015] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatuses, or instructions for receiving a first downlink via a first panel after receiving a second downlink signal via a second panel, wherein determining that the first panel may be a reference panel may be based on receiving the first downlink via the first panel after receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel.

[0016] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatuses, or instructions for receiving a first downlink via a first panel before receiving a second downlink signal via a second panel, wherein determining that the first panel may be a reference panel may be based on receiving the first downlink via the first panel before receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel.

[0017] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, determining a second timing advance value for a second panel may include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for: determining an offset based on a difference between a time at which a first downlink signal can be received by the first panel and a time at which a second downlink signal can be received by the second panel; and determining a second timing advance value for the second panel based on the received timing advance value and the offset.

[0018] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, determining a first timing advance value for a first panel and a second timing advance value for a second panel may include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for: determining a first offset and a second offset based on a difference between a time at which a first downlink signal can be received by the first panel and a time at which a second downlink signal can be received by the second panel; determining the first timing advance value for the first panel based on the received timing advance value and the first offset; and determining the second timing advance value for the second panel based on the received timing advance value and the second offset.

[0019] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, determining a first offset and a second offset may include operations, features, apparatuses, or instructions for: determining the first offset based on a first difference between a time at which a first downlink signal can be received by a first panel and a time at which a second downlink signal can be received by a second panel; and determining the second offset based on a second difference between a time at which the first downlink signal can be received by a first panel and a time at which the second downlink signal can be received by a second panel.

[0020] A method of wireless communication at a base station is described. The method may include: receiving from a UE one or more transmissions from at least one of a plurality of panels of the UE; determining a timing advance value for a serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication for the UE; transmitting the timing advance value to the UE; and communicating with the UE via one or more TRPs associated with the base station.

[0021] An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station is described. The apparatus may include a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive from a UE one or more transmissions from at least one of a plurality of panels of the UE; determine a timing advance value for a serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication for the UE; transmit the timing advance value to the UE; and communicate with the UE via one or more TRPs associated with the base station.

[0022] Another apparatus for wireless communication at a base station is described. The apparatus may include means for: receiving from a UE one or more transmissions from at least one of a plurality of panels of the UE; determining a timing advance value for a serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication for the UE; transmitting the timing advance value to the UE; and communicating with the UE via one or more TRPs associated with the base station.

[0023] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a base station is described. The code may include instructions executable by a processor to: receive from a UE one or more transmissions from at least one of a plurality of panels of the UE; determine a timing advance value for a serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication for the UE; transmit the timing advance value to the UE; and communicate with the UE via one or more TRPs associated with the base station.

[0024] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatuses, or instructions for the following actions: determining that a first panel may be a reference panel based on a reference timing configuration, wherein based on determining that the first panel may be a reference panel, the transmitted timing advance value may be equal to a first timing advance value for the first panel.

[0025] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for transmitting an indication to the UE that the first panel may be a reference panel.

[0026] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the indication is transmitted via at least one of RRC signaling, MAC-CE, or DCI.

[0027] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, a first panel is associated with a first panel ID that is lower than a second panel ID associated with a second panel, wherein determining that the first panel is a reference panel is based on the first panel being associated with a first panel ID that is lower than the second panel ID associated with the second panel.

[0028] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for determining that a first panel may be associated with a larger timing advance value than a second panel, wherein determining that the first panel may be a reference panel may be based on determining that the first panel may be associated with a larger timing advance value.

[0029] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for determining that a first panel may be associated with a smaller timing advance value than a second panel, wherein determining that the first panel may be a reference panel may be based on determining that the first panel may be associated with a smaller timing advance value.

[0030] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the transmitted timing advance value is based on an average of a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] Figure 1

[0013] An example of a wireless communication system supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0033] Figure 2

[0013] An example of a wireless communication system supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0034] Figure 3 An example communication timeline supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0035] Figure 4 An example of a process flow to support timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0036] Figure 5 and 6 A block diagram of an apparatus supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0037] Figure 7 A block diagram of a communications manager supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0038] Figure 8 A diagram of a system including a device supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions is shown in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0039] Fig. 9 and 10 A block diagram of an apparatus supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0040] Fig.11 A block diagram of a communications manager supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0041] Fig.12 A diagram of a system including a device supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions is shown in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0042] Fig.13 and 14 A flow chart illustrating a method of supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0043] Detailed Description

[0044] In some wireless communication systems, a user equipment (UE) may support multi-panel communication with a base station via multiple transmit-receive points (TRPs). In some cases, for example, the UE may communicate with the base station via multiple TRPs by using different panels of the UE to communicate with each TRP. For example, the UE may communicate with a first TRP associated with a base station using a first panel, and may communicate with a second TRP associated with a base station using a second panel. In order to increase the likelihood of successful communication between the UE and multiple TRPs associated with the base station, the UE may adjust the timing of uplink transmissions from the UE so that transmissions from the UE uplink are received by each TRP aligned with a downlink frame at the TRP. The UE may adjust the timing of uplink transmissions to the TRP by applying a timing advance (e.g., a timing advance value) to the uplink transmission. The timing advance value that the UE may apply to the uplink transmission may be based on the receiving TRP. For example, the first TRP and the second TRP may be associated with different timing advance values. In some cases, the base station may signal the UE via one or more TRPs to multiple timing advance values ​​that can be used to communicate with the TRP associated with the base station.

[0045] According to various aspects of the present disclosure, a base station may signal a timing advance value (e.g., a single timing advance value) via one or more TRPs, which the UE may use to determine a timing advance value for each panel of the UE that the UE uses to communicate with a TRP associated with the base station. For example, the UE may use the received timing advance value to determine a first timing advance value that the UE may use for uplink transmissions from a first panel of the UE to a first TRP, and determine a second timing advance value that the UE may use for uplink transmissions from a second panel of the UE to a second TRP. In some examples, the UE may use the received timing advance value and the timing of several downlink signals (e.g., several multi-panel downlink receptions) to determine the timing advance value for each panel of the UE. In such examples, the UE may determine the timing advance value for one or more panels of the UE based on determining an offset from the received timing advance value. In some implementations, the UE may determine the offset based on measuring the time duration between each downlink signal received at each panel of the UE.

[0046] Certain aspects of the subject matter described herein may be implemented to achieve one or more potential advantages. The described techniques may support efficient signaling of timing advance values ​​that a UE may use to communicate with multiple TRPs via multiple panels of the UE. Accordingly, the UE and base station may reduce signaling overhead and improve spectral efficiency while maintaining high reliability, coverage, and capacity associated with communicating via multiple TRPs. In addition, based on receiving fewer timing advance values ​​(e.g., based on receiving a single timing advance value rather than a timing advance value for each panel of the UE), the UE may monitor fewer resources to look for signaling from the base station, and may therefore power down one or more components to achieve greater power savings and longer battery life. Similarly, a base station via multiple TRPs may perform fewer transmissions, and in this manner may similarly achieve greater power savings and reduce interference in the system.

[0047] Aspects of the present disclosure are initially described in the context of wireless communication systems. Aspects of the present disclosure are additionally described in the context of communication timelines and process flows. Aspects of the present disclosure are further illustrated by and described with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, and flow diagrams related to timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions.

[0048] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system 100 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmission according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 may include one or more base stations 105, one or more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may be a long term evolution (LTE) network, an advanced LTE (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, or a new radio (NR) network. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support enhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable (e.g., mission-critical) communications, low latency communications, communications with low-cost and low-complexity devices, or any combination thereof.

[0049] The base stations 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic area to form the wireless communication system 100, and may be different forms of devices or devices with different capabilities. The base stations 105 and the UEs 115 may communicate wirelessly via one or more communication links 125. Each base station 105 may provide a coverage area 110 over which the UEs 115 and the base stations 105 may establish one or more communication links 125. The coverage area 110 may be an example of a geographic area over which the base stations 105 and the UEs 115 may support communication of signals according to one or more radio access technologies.

[0050] The UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the coverage area 110 of the wireless communication system 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary or mobile, or stationary and mobile at different times. The UEs 115 may be different forms of devices or devices with different capabilities. Figure 1 Some example UEs 115 are illustrated in FIG. 1. The UEs 115 described herein may be capable of communicating with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, base stations 105, or network equipment (e.g., core network nodes, relay devices, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, or other network equipment), such as Figure 1 as shown in .

[0051] Each base station 105 may communicate with the core network 130, or communicate with each other, or both. For example, the base station 105 may interface with the core network 130 via one or more backhaul links 120 (e.g., via S1, N2, N3 or other interfaces). The base stations 105 may communicate with each other directly (e.g., directly between the base stations 105), or indirectly (e.g., via the core network 130), or directly and indirectly on the backhaul link 120 (e.g., via X2, Xn or other interfaces). In some examples, the backhaul link 120 may be or include one or more wireless links.

[0052] One or more of the base stations 105 described herein may include or may be referred to by a person of ordinary skill in the art as a base transceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radio transceiver, a B node, an evolved B node (eNB), a next generation B node or a gigabit B node (any of which may be referred to as a gNB), a home B node, a home evolved B node, or other suitable terminology.

[0053] UE 115 may include or may be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitable term, where a "device" may also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, etc. UE 115 may also include or may be referred to as a personal electronic device, such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. In some examples, UE 115 may include or be referred to as a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine type communication (MTC) device, etc., which may be implemented in various objects such as electrical appliances or vehicles, meters, etc.

[0054] The UE 115 described herein may be able to communicate with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, which may sometimes act as relays, as well as base stations 105 and network equipment including macro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, relay base stations, etc. Figure 1 as shown in .

[0055] The UE 115 and the base station 105 may communicate wirelessly with each other via one or more communication links 125 on one or more carriers. The term "carrier" may refer to a set of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting the communication link 125. For example, a carrier for the communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth portion (BWP)) that operates according to one or more physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling for coordinating carrier operations, user data, or other signaling. The wireless communication system 100 may support communication with the UE 115 using carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation. The UE 115 may be configured to have multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers according to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregation may be used in conjunction with both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) component carriers.

[0056] In some examples (e.g., in a carrier aggregation configuration), a carrier may also have acquisition signaling or control signaling that coordinates the operation of other carriers. A carrier may be associated with a frequency channel (e.g., an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (EARFCN)) and may be located according to a channel grid for discovery by UE 115. A carrier may operate in a standalone mode in which initial acquisition and connection may be made by UE 115 via the carrier, or a carrier may operate in a non-standalone mode in which a connection is anchored using a different carrier (e.g., a different carrier of the same or different radio access technology).

[0057] The communication link 125 shown in the wireless communication system 100 may include an uplink transmission from the UE 115 to the base station 105, or a downlink transmission from the base station 105 to the UE 115. A carrier may carry downlink or uplink communications (e.g., in an FDD mode), or may be configured to carry both downlink and uplink communications (e.g., in a TDD mode).

[0058] A carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of a radio frequency spectrum, and in some examples, the carrier bandwidth may be referred to as a "system bandwidth" of the carrier or wireless communication system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of several determined bandwidths (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 megahertz (MHz)) of a carrier of a particular radio access technology. Devices (e.g., base stations 105, UEs 115, or both) of the wireless communication system 100 may have a hardware configuration that supports communications on a particular carrier bandwidth, or may be configurable to support communications on one of a set of carrier bandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may include a base station 105 or UE 115 that supports simultaneous communications via carriers associated with multiple carrier bandwidths. In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured to operate on a portion (e.g., subband, BWP) or all of a carrier bandwidth.

[0059] The signal waveform transmitted on the carrier may include multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In a system using MCM technology, a resource element may include a code element period (e.g., the duration of a modulation code element) and a subcarrier, where the code element period and the subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the code rate of the modulation scheme, or both). Thus, the more resource elements received by UE 115 and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate of UE 115 can be. Wireless communication resources may refer to a combination of radio frequency spectrum resources, time resources, and spatial resources (e.g., spatial layers or beams), and the use of multiple spatial layers can further improve the data rate or data integrity of communication with UE 115.

[0060] One or more parameter designs for a carrier may be supported, where the parameter designs may include subcarrier spacing (Δf) and cyclic prefixes. A carrier may be divided into one or more BWPs with the same or different parameter designs. In some examples, a UE 115 may be configured with multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may be active at a given time, and communications for a UE 115 may be limited to the one or more active BWPs.

[0061] The time interval of the base station 105 or the UE 115 can be expressed as a multiple of a basic time unit, and the basic time unit can be, for example, a sampling period T s =1 / (Δf max ·Nf) seconds, where Δf maxNf may represent the maximum supported subcarrier spacing, and Nf may represent the maximum supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size. Time intervals of communication resources may be organized according to radio frames, each having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)). Each radio frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023).

[0062] Each frame may include a plurality of consecutively numbered subframes or time slots, and each subframe or time slot may have the same duration. In some examples, a frame may be divided into subframes (e.g., in the time domain), and each subframe may be further divided into a number of time slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable number of time slots, and the number of time slots may depend on the subcarrier spacing. Each time slot may include a number of code element periods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix added before each code element period). In some wireless communication systems 100, the time slot may be further divided into a plurality of mini-time slots containing one or more code elements. Excluding the cyclic prefix, each code element period may include one or more (e.g., Nf) sampling periods. The duration of the code element period may depend on the subcarrier spacing or the operating frequency band.

[0063] A subframe, slot, mini-slot, or symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wireless communication system 100 and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI). In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., the number of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communication system 100 may be dynamically selected (e.g., in bursts of shortened TTIs (sTTIs)).

[0064] Physical channels may be multiplexed on a carrier according to various techniques. Physical control channels and physical data channels may be multiplexed on a downlink carrier, for example, using one or more of a time division multiplexing (TDM) technique, a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) technique, or a hybrid TDM-FDM technique. A control region (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET)) for a physical control channel may be defined by a number of symbol periods and may extend across a system bandwidth or a subset of a system bandwidth of a carrier. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESETs) may be configured for a set of UEs 115. For example, one or more of the UEs 115 may monitor or search a control region for control information according to one or more search space sets, and each search space set may include one or more control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. An aggregation level for a control channel candidate may refer to the number of control channel resources (e.g., control channel elements (CCEs)) associated with coded information for a control information format having a given payload size. The search space sets may include a common search space set configured for transmitting control information to multiple UEs 115 and a UE-specific search space set for transmitting control information to a specific UE 115 .

[0065] Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage via one or more cells (e.g., macro cells, small cells, hot spots, or other types of cells, or any combination thereof). The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station 105 (e.g., on a carrier), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID), or other) used to distinguish adjacent cells. In some examples, a cell may also refer to a geographic coverage area 110 or a portion of a geographic coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) on which a logical communication entity operates. The range of such a cell may range from a smaller area (e.g., a structure, a subset of a structure) to a larger area depending on various factors (such as the capabilities of the base station 105). For example, a cell may be or include a building, a subset of a building, or an external space between or overlapping a geographic coverage area 110, as well as other examples.

[0066] A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access to UEs 115 that have service subscriptions with a network provider that supports the macro cell. A small cell may be associated with a lower power base station 105 (compared to a macro cell), and the small cell may operate in the same or different (e.g., licensed, unlicensed) frequency band as the macro cell. A small cell may provide unrestricted access to UEs 115 that have service subscriptions with a network provider, or may provide restricted access to UEs 115 associated with the small cell (e.g., UEs 115 in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs 115 associated with users in a home or office). A base station 105 may support one or more cells and may also support communications on one or more cells using one or more component carriers.

[0067] In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., MTC, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB)) that may provide access to different types of devices.

[0068] In some examples, base stations 105 may be mobile and, therefore, provide communication coverage for mobile geographic coverage areas 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may overlap, but the different geographic coverage areas 110 may be supported by the same base station 105. In other examples, overlapping geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may be supported by different base stations 105. The wireless communication system 100 may include, for example, a heterogeneous network in which different types of base stations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110 using the same or different radio access technologies.

[0069] The wireless communication system 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the base stations 105 may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations 105 may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations 105 may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations 105 may not be aligned in time in some examples. The techniques described herein may be used for synchronous or asynchronous operation.

[0070] Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be low-cost or low-complexity devices and may provide automated communication between machines (e.g., via machine-to-machine (M2M) communication). M2M communication or MTC may refer to data communication technology that allows devices to communicate with each other or with a base station 105 without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTC may include communications from devices that integrate sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay such information to a central server or application that utilizes the information or presents the information to a person interacting with the application. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or implement automated behavior of machines or other devices. Examples of applications for MTC devices include: smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, health care monitoring, field survival monitoring, weather and geographic event monitoring, queue management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based commercial charging.

[0071] Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ a reduced power consumption mode of operation, such as half-duplex communication (e.g., a mode that supports unidirectional communication via transmission or reception but not simultaneous transmission and reception). In some examples, half-duplex communication may be performed with a reduced peak rate. Other power saving techniques for UE 115 include entering a power saving deep sleep mode when not engaged in active communications, operating on a limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowband communications), or a combination of these techniques. For example, some UEs 115 may be configured to operate using a narrowband protocol type that is associated with a defined portion or range (e.g., a subcarrier or resource block (RB) set) within a carrier, within a guard band of a carrier, or outside a carrier.

[0072] The wireless communication system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable communication or low latency communication or various combinations thereof. For example, the wireless communication system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) or mission-critical communication. UE 115 may be designed to support ultra-reliable, low latency or critical functions (e.g., mission-critical functions). Ultra-reliable communication may include private communication or group communication, and may be supported by one or more mission-critical services (such as mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), mission-critical video (MCVideo), or mission-critical data (MCData). Support for mission-critical functions may include prioritization of services, and mission-critical services may be used for public safety or general commercial applications. The terms ultra-reliable, low latency, critical mission, and ultra-reliable low latency may be used interchangeably herein.

[0073] In some examples, UE 115 may also be able to communicate directly with other UE 115 over a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 135 (e.g., using a peer-to-peer (P2P) or D2D protocol). One or more UEs 115 utilizing D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 105, or may not be able to receive transmissions from the base station 105 for other reasons. In some examples, each group of UEs 115 communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which each UE 115 transmits to each other UE 115 in the group. In some examples, the base station 105 facilitates the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication is performed between each UE 115 without involving the base station 105.

[0074] In some systems, the D2D communication link 135 can be an example of a communication channel (such as a sidelink communication channel) between vehicles (e.g., UE 115). In some examples, the vehicles can communicate using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, or some combination of these communications. The vehicles can signal information related to traffic conditions, signal scheduling, weather, safety, emergency situations, or any other information related to the V2X system. In some examples, vehicles in the V2X system can communicate with roadside infrastructure (such as roadside units), or with the network, or both via one or more network nodes (e.g., base station 105) using vehicle-to-network (V2N) communications.

[0075] The core network 130 may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC), and the EPC or 5GC may include at least one control plane entity (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF)) for managing access and mobility, and at least one user plane entity (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF)) for routing packets or interconnecting to an external network. The control plane entity may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions, such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management of UE 115 served by a base station 105 associated with the core network 130. User IP packets may be delivered via a user plane entity, which may provide IP address allocation and other functions. The user plane entity may be connected to a network operator IP service 150. Operator IP services 150 may include access to the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), or packet-switched streaming services.

[0076] Some network devices (such as base stations 105) may include subcomponents, such as access network entities 140, which may be examples of access node controllers (ANCs). Each access network entity 140 may communicate with each UE 115 through one or more other access network transport entities 145, which may be referred to as radio heads, smart radio heads, or transmission / reception points (TRPs). Each access network transport entity 145 may include one or more antenna panels. In some configurations, the various functions of each access network entity 140 or base station 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g., radio heads and ANCs) or merged into a single network device (e.g., base station 105).

[0077] The wireless communication system 100 may operate using one or more frequency bands, typically in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz). In general, the 300 MHz to 3 GHz region is referred to as the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because the wavelengths range from about 1 decimeter to 1 meter long. UHF waves may be blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features, but these waves may penetrate various structures sufficiently for macro cells to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmissions using UHF waves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter ranges (e.g., less than 100 kilometers) than transmissions using smaller frequencies and longer waves in the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portions of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

[0078] The wireless communication system 100 may also operate in a super high frequency (SHF) zone using a frequency band from 3 GHz to 30 GHz (also known as a centimeter band) or in an extremely high frequency (EHF) zone of a spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz) (also known as a millimeter band). In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between UE 115 and base station 105, and the EHF antenna of the corresponding device may be smaller and more closely spaced than the UHF antenna. In some examples, this may facilitate the use of antenna arrays within the device. However, the propagation of EHF transmissions may be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation and a shorter range than SHF or UHF transmissions. The technology disclosed herein may be adopted across transmissions using one or more different frequency zones, and the use of frequency bands specified across these frequency zones may vary by country or regulatory agency.

[0079] The wireless communication system 100 may utilize both licensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, the wireless communication system 100 may employ licensed assisted access (LAA), LTE unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology in an unlicensed band (such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band). When operating in an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, devices (such as base stations 105 and UEs 115) may employ carrier sensing for conflict detection and avoidance. In some examples, operations in an unlicensed band may be based on a carrier aggregation configuration (e.g., LAA) in coordination with component carriers operating in a licensed band. Operations in an unlicensed spectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions, or D2D transmissions, among others.

[0080] The base station 105 or UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas, which can be used to employ technologies such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming. The antennas of the base station 105 or UE 115 may be located in one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels that can support MIMO operations or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly (such as an antenna tower). In some examples, the antennas or antenna arrays associated with the base station 105 may be located at different geographical locations. The base station 105 may have an antenna array having antenna ports of several rows and columns that the base station 105 can use to support beamforming for communications with the UE 115. Similarly, the UE 115 may have one or more antenna arrays that can support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally or alternatively, the antenna panel may support radio frequency beamforming for signals transmitted via the antenna ports.

[0081] The base station 105 or UE 115 can use MIMO communication to utilize multipath signal propagation and improve spectral efficiency by transmitting or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers. Such technology may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. For example, the transmitting device may transmit multiple signals via different antennas or different antenna combinations. Similarly, the receiving device may receive multiple signals via different antennas or different antenna combinations. Each of the multiple signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream and may carry bits associated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) or different data streams (e.g., different codewords). Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna ports for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO technology includes single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), in which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to the same receiving device; and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), in which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multiple devices.

[0082] Beamforming (which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception) is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105, a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam, a receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beamforming may be achieved by combining signals communicated via antenna elements of an antenna array so that some signals propagating at a particular orientation relative to the antenna array experience constructive interference, while other signals experience destructive interference. Adjustments to signals communicated via antenna elements may include the transmitting device or the receiving device applying an amplitude offset, a phase offset, or both to signals carried via antenna elements associated with the device. Adjustments associated with each antenna element may be defined by a set of beamforming weights associated with a particular orientation (e.g., relative to the antenna array of the transmitting device or the receiving device, or relative to some other orientation).

[0083] The base station 105 or the UE 115 may use beam sweeping techniques as part of a beamforming operation. For example, the base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to perform beamforming operations for directional communication with the UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted multiple times by the base station 105 in different directions. For example, the base station 105 may transmit signals according to different sets of beamforming weights associated with different transmission directions. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used (e.g., by a transmitting device (such as the base station 105) or a receiving device (such as the UE 115)) to identify a beam direction used by the base station 105 for later transmission or reception.

[0084] Some signals, such as data signals associated with a particular recipient device, may be transmitted by base station 105 in a single beam direction, e.g., a direction associated with a recipient device, such as UE 115. In some examples, a beam direction associated with transmissions along a single beam direction may be determined based on signals transmitted in one or more beam directions. For example, UE 115 may receive one or more signals transmitted by base station 105 in different directions and may report to base station 105 an indication of the signal received by UE 115 with the highest signal quality or other acceptable signal quality.

[0085] In some examples, transmission by a device (e.g., by a base station 105 or a UE 115) may be performed using multiple beam directions, and the device may use a combination of digital precoding or radio frequency beamforming to generate a combined beam for transmission (e.g., from the base station 105 to the UE 115). The UE 115 may report feedback indicating precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback may correspond to a configured number of beams across the system bandwidth or one or more subbands. The base station 105 may transmit a reference signal that may be precoded or unprecoded (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)). The UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection, which may be a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., a multi-panel type codebook, a linear combination type codebook, a port selection type codebook). Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted by base station 105 in one or more directions, UE 115 may use similar techniques to transmit signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., to identify a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by UE 115) or to transmit signals in a single direction (e.g., to transmit data to a receiving device).

[0086] A receiving device (e.g., UE 115) may try multiple reception configurations (e.g., directional listening) when receiving various signals (such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) from a base station 105. For example, the receiving device may try multiple reception directions by receiving via different antenna subarrays, processing received signals according to different antenna subarrays, receiving according to different receive beamforming weight sets (e.g., different directional listening weight sets) applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array, or processing received signals according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array, any of which may be referred to as "listening" according to different reception configurations or reception directions. In some examples, the receiving device may use a single reception configuration to receive along a single beam direction (e.g., when receiving a data signal). The single reception configuration may be aligned on a beam direction determined based on listening according to different reception configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have the highest signal strength, the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or other acceptable signal quality based on listening according to multiple beam directions).

[0087] The wireless communication system 100 may be a packet-based network that operates according to a layered protocol stack. In the user plane, the communication of the bearer or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer may be IP-based. The radio link control (RLC) layer may perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicate on a logical channel. The media access control (MAC) layer may perform priority handling and multiplex logical channels into transport channels. The MAC layer may also use error detection techniques, error correction techniques, or both to support retransmission of the MAC layer to improve link efficiency. In the control plane, the radio resource control (RRC) protocol layer may provide the establishment, configuration, and maintenance of an RRC connection that supports radio bearers of user plane data between UE 115 and base station 105 or core network 130. In the physical layer, transport channels may be mapped to physical channels.

[0088] UE 115 and base station 105 may support retransmission of data to increase the likelihood that the data is successfully received. Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is a technique for increasing the likelihood that data is correctly received on communication link 125. HARQ may include a combination of error detection (e.g., using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC)), forward error correction (FEC), and retransmission (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ)). HARQ may improve the throughput of the MAC layer in poor radio conditions (e.g., low signal-to-noise ratio conditions). In some examples, a device may support simultaneous slot HARQ feedback, wherein the device may provide HARQ feedback in a specific time slot for data received in a previous symbol in the time slot. In other cases, the device may provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent time slot or according to some other time interval.

[0089] In some cases, the base station 105 may be associated with multiple TRPs, and the UE 115 may communicate with the base station 105 via multiple TRPs. The UE 115 may support multi-panel communications, and may communicate with each of the multiple TRPs using different panels of the UE 115. The panel of the UE 115 may refer to the antenna configuration of the UE 115, and as such may be equivalently referred to as an antenna panel. An antenna element group that may include two or more antenna elements in one or more antenna arrays or subarrays may be referred to herein as an antenna panel, which may correspond to a physical antenna panel or hardware module at the UE, or to a virtual antenna panel that may include two or more antenna elements, which are subsets of antenna elements at a physical antenna module or across multiple antenna modules. Each antenna panel may include antenna elements associated with one or more polarizations. In some cases, the antenna panel may include beamforming capabilities (e.g., analog beamforming components, such as phase shifters or configurable amplifiers). In some cases, each antenna panel may be associated with one or more RF chains, which may, for example, convert between RF signals and digital baseband signals.

[0090] A TRP associated with a base station 105 may include or otherwise refer to a TRP located at the same physical location as a base station 105 (e.g., a TRP that is part of a base station 105) or a TRP located at various physical locations that a base station 105 may use to communicate with a UE 115 (e.g., such as a relay node). Alternatively, a TRP may refer to a base station 105, and in such a case, a UE 115 may communicate with multiple base stations 105.

[0091] In some implementations of the present disclosure, the base station 105 may receive one or more transmissions from the UE 115, and may measure or otherwise determine a timing advance value for each panel of the UE 115 that the UE 115 uses to communicate with multiple TRPs associated with the base station 105. The base station 105 may determine a timing advance value (e.g., a single timing advance value) based on the measured timing advance value for each panel of the UE 115, and may transmit the timing advance value (e.g., the single timing advance value) to the UE 115. The UE 115 may use the received timing advance value and the timing of at least one downlink signal received via at least one of the multiple panels of the UE 115 to derive or otherwise determine the timing advance value for each panel of the UE 115. Accordingly, the UE 115 may apply the derived timing advance value to each panel of the UE 115 to communicate with the base station 105 via the multiple TRPs associated with the base station 105.

[0092] Figure 2 An example of a wireless communication system 200 that supports timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In some examples, the wireless communication system 200 may implement aspects of the wireless communication system 100.

[0093] The wireless communication system 200 may include a base station 105-a and a UE 115-a, which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein. The base station 105-a may be associated with a TRP 205 and a TRP 210, which may be physically located at the base station 105-a or at a location remote from the base station 105-a, and may be used by the base station 105-a to communicate with the UE 115-a. The UE 115-a may communicate with the TRP 205 and the TRP 210 using a panel 235 and a panel 240, respectively. For example, the UE 115-a may use the panel 235 to transmit an uplink signal 255 to the TRP 205 on the uplink communication link 220, and receive a downlink signal 250 from the TRP 205 on the downlink communication link 215. Similarly, UE 115-a may use panel 240 to transmit uplink signal 265 to TRP 210 on uplink communication link 230 and receive downlink signal 260 from TRP 210 on downlink communication link 225. In some examples, UE 115-a may receive timing advance value 245 from base station 105-a (e.g., via TRP 205 (as shown), via TRP 210\, or via any other signaling), and UE 115-a may use timing advance value 245 to determine a timing advance value for communications from each of panel 235 and panel 240.

[0094] Base station 105-a may host a serving cell for UE 115-a and, accordingly, may be referred to as serving base station 105-a. UE 115-a may be configured to support multi-panel uplink communications with base station 105-a and may use different panels of UE 115-a (such as panel 235 and panel 240) to communicate with TRP 205 and TRP 210 associated with base station 105-a, respectively. In some cases, TRP 205 and TRP 210 may be synchronized with the downlink timing of base station 105-a (e.g., transmit and receive signals according to synchronization frame timing). In such cases, base station 105-a may transmit a timing advance value 245 to UE 115-a for each of panel 235 and panel 240 to better align the signal transmitted by UE 115-a with the downlink timing at base station 105-a when received by TRP 205 or TRP 210. For example, communications between TRP 205 and panel 235 may be associated with a first timing advance group (TAG) (e.g., a first TAG-ID), and base station 105-a may signal a first timing advance value for UE 115-a to apply for communications between TRP 205 and panel 235. Similarly, communications between TRP 210 and panel 240 may be associated with a second TAG (e.g., a second TAG-ID), and base station 105-a may signal a second timing advance value for UE 115-a to apply for communications between TRP 210 and panel 240. For example, TRP 205 and TRP 210 may be at different locations (e.g., physically separated from base station 105-a), or communications between TRP 205 and UE 115-a may occupy a different time duration than communications between TRP 210 and UE 115-a due to other reasons (e.g., different channel paths, reflections).

[0095] In some cases, TRP 205 and TRP 210 may be synchronized (e.g., timing aligned) such that TRP 205 may have aligned uplink and downlink frames with TRP 210. For example, the start of a downlink frame of TRP 205 may be aligned with the start of a downlink frame of TRP 210. Based on being located at different locations and aligned in time, the timing advance values ​​that UE 115-a may use to communicate with each of TRP 205 and TRP 210 may be different. In such an example, UE 115-a may adjust the timing of a first uplink transmission (e.g., uplink signal 255) from panel 235 to TRP 205 by a first timing advance value and may adjust the timing of a second transmission (e.g., uplink signal 265) from panel 240 to TRP 210 by a second timing advance value, which may result in better alignment of reception of uplink signal 255 at TRP 205 and downlink frames of TRP 205 and better alignment of reception of uplink signal 255 at TRP 210 and downlink frames of TRP 210. However, in some cases, signaling a different timing advance value for each TRP associated with base station 105-a (e.g., for each panel of UE 115-a that UE 115-a uses to communicate with a TRP associated with base station 105-a) may result in increased signaling overhead and may reduce the spectral efficiency and achievable data rate of wireless communication system 200.

[0096] In some implementations of the present disclosure, the base station 105-a may signal a timing advance value 245 (e.g., a single timing advance value 245) that the UE 115-a may use to determine the timing advance values ​​for the panels 235 and 240. In some aspects, the timing advance value 245 may be associated with a TAG-ID (e.g., the UE 115-a may be associated with a single TAG). In such implementations, the base station 105-a may transmit fewer signals to the UE 115-a, thereby reducing overhead and improving spectral efficiency. In some examples, the base station 105-a may determine the timing advance for each of the panels 235 and 240 based on a difference (e.g., a time domain difference) between determining the time of receiving a transmission from the UE 115-a and the start of a downlink frame at the base station 105-a (in the case where the TRP 205 and the TRP 210 are time-aligned, this may be equivalent to the start of a downlink frame at both the TRP 206 and the TRP 210). For example, base station 105-a may measure a difference between a time when uplink signal 255 is received by base station 105-a (e.g., via TRP 205) and the start of a downlink frame at base station 105-a to determine a first timing advance value for panel 235. Similarly, base station 105-a may measure a difference between a time when uplink signal 265 is received by base station 105-a (e.g., via TRP 210) and the start of a downlink frame at base station 105-a to determine a second timing advance value for panel 240.

[0097] The base station 105-a may use the first timing advance value for the panel 235 and the second timing advance value for the panel 240 to determine a timing advance value 245 that the base station 105-a may transmit to the UE 115-a. In some examples, the base station 105-a may determine the timing advance value 245 based on the first timing advance value, the second timing advance value, and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell (e.g., for the serving base station 105-a). The reference timing configuration may indicate how the base station 105-a may determine the timing advance value 245. For example, in some implementations, the reference timing configuration may indicate that the base station 105-a may determine the timing advance value 245 based on equalizing the timing advance value 245 to a timing advance value of a reference or default panel (e.g., the first timing advance value for the panel 235 or the second timing advance value for the panel 240). For example, in the case where the panel 235 is a reference panel, the timing advance value 245 may be equal to the first timing advance value measured by the base station 105-a for communication between the panel 235 of the UE 115-a for the TRP 205. In some other implementations, the reference timing configuration may indicate that the base station 105-a may determine the timing advance value 245 based on an average (e.g., an average) of the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value. For example, the base station 105-a may average the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value, and may set the timing advance value 245 equal to the average. In some aspects, the reference timing configuration may be configured (e.g., preconfigured or signaled) at both the base station 105-a and the UE 115-a.

[0098] UE 115-a may receive timing advance value 245 and determine a first timing advance value for panel 235 and a second timing advance value for panel 240, respectively, based on the received timing advance value 245 and the timing of at least one of downlink signal 250 or downlink 260 received via panel 235 or panel 240. In some examples, UE 115-a may determine the first timing advance value for panel 235 and the second panel 240 based on a reference timing configuration. For example, a method, technique, algorithm, or process for determining the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value may be based on whether the timing advance value 245 is equal to a timing advance value for a reference panel (e.g., the first timing advance value for panel 235 or the second timing advance value for panel 240), or is equal to an average of the first timing advance value for panel 235 and the second timing advance value for panel 240. This document (including references) Figure 3 ) describes additional details related to determining a first timing advance value for panel 235 and a second timing advance value for panel 240.

[0099] Accordingly, UE 115-a may communicate with TRP 205 and TRP 210 associated with base station 105-a based on a first timing advance value for panel 235 and a second timing advance value for panel 240. For example, UE 115-a may apply the first timing advance value to communications between TRP 205 and panel 235 (e.g., uplink signal 255), and may apply the second timing advance value to communications between TRP 210 and panel 240 (e.g., uplink signal 265).

[0100] Figure 3 Example communication timelines 300, 301, and 302 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. In some examples, communication timelines 300, 301, and 302 may implement aspects of wireless communication system 100 and wireless communication system 300. Communication timelines 300, 301, and 302 may illustrate communications between multiple TRPs associated with a base station and a UE, which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein. In some examples, a UE may determine timing advance values ​​for multiple panels (such as panel 305 and panel 310) based on receiving a timing advance value (e.g., a single timing advance value) from a base station.

[0101] In some cases, the UE may communicate with a first TRP associated with the base station via panel 305, and may communicate with a second TRP associated with the base station via panel 310. In some implementations, the base station may determine the timing advance value based on determining a first timing advance value (which may be referred to herein as 2*t0) for communication between the first TRP and the panel 305 of the UE, a second timing advance value (which may be referred to herein as 2*t1) for communication between the second TRP and the panel 310 of the UE, and a reference timing configuration, as described herein (including references to Figure 2 ). In some examples, the reference timing configuration may indicate that the base station is to set the transmitted timing advance value equal to the timing advance value of the reference panel for the UE. Based on the configuration, the reference panel for the UE may be panel 305 or panel 310. In some other examples, the reference timing configuration may indicate that the base station is to set the transmitted timing advance value equal to the average of the first timing advance value for panel 305 and the second timing advance value for panel 310.

[0102] In some examples where the reference timing configuration indicates that the transmitted timing advance value is equal to the timing advance value for the reference panel, the base station and the UE may determine the reference panel based on the configuration or based on signaling. For example, in some implementations, the base station may determine the reference panel and may signal the UE to indicate the reference panel. The base station may signal the UE to indicate the reference panel via an indication in radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), or downlink control information (DCI). In such implementations, the base station may semi-statically or dynamically update which panel of the UE is the reference panel. In some other implementations, the base station and the UE may determine the reference panel based on a fixed rule. For example, the reference panel may be determined based on a panel identifier (ID) associated with each panel of the UE. For example, the base station and the UE may determine that the panel with the lowest panel ID is the reference panel. In some aspects, the panel ID may be reused from other signal IDs (such as, sounding reference signal (SRS) resource ID, SRS set ID, CORESET pool index or beam ID, etc.) or associated with these other signal IDs. Although described and illustrated in an example in which the reference panel is the panel with the lowest panel ID, the described techniques may be equally applicable to an example in which the reference panel is the panel with the highest panel ID. In some other examples, the reference panel may be defined based on a relative timing advance value for each panel. For example, the base station and the UE may determine that a panel with a relatively smaller or larger timing advance value is the reference panel.

[0103] In examples where the timing advance value transmitted by the base station is equal to the timing advance value for the reference panel, the UE may apply the received timing advance value to the reference panel (e.g., apply the received timing advance value to the communication from the reference panel) and derive the timing advance for the other panel. In some examples where the reference timing configuration indicates that the transmitted timing advance value is equal to the average of the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value, the UE may derive the timing advance value for each panel of the UE. Examples of some implementations of the present disclosure are described with reference to communication timelines 300, 301, and 302, and similar methods and algorithms may be used in addition to or in place of the example methods and algorithms described herein. Further, as described herein, N TAi is the total timing advance value for panel i for UE 115-a and may be defined as shown in Equation 1 below.

[0104] N TAi =N TA +TA+δ i (1)

[0105] As shown in formula 1, N TAis the cumulative timing advance for the panel (e.g., based on the sum of previous timing advance values ​​received from the base station), TA is the timing advance value received from the base station, and δ i is an offset (e.g., in the time domain) for UE panel i based on the timing of the downlink signal received at the panel of the UE. In some cases, for example, the first timing advance value for panel 305 may be equivalently defined as 2*t0=TA+δ0, while the second timing advance value for panel 310 may be defined as 2*t1=TA+δ1.

[0106] As illustrated by communication timeline 300, the UE may transmit uplink signals from each of panel 305-a and panel 310-a during the same time period, and may receive downlink signals via each of panel 305-a and panel 310-a during the same time period. In such a case, the timing advance value transmitted by the base station will be equally applied to communications from panel 305-a and panel 310-a, regardless of which panel is the reference panel. For example, the timing advance values ​​for panel 305-a and panel 310-a are the same (e.g., t0=t1). As such, the first timing advance value for panel 305-a may be equal to TA (e.g., δ0=0), and the total timing advance value for panel 305 may be based on N TA0 =N TA Similarly, the second timing advance value for panel 310-a may be equal to TA (eg, δ1=0), and the total timing advance value for panel 310 may be based on N TA1 =N TA +TA to confirm.

[0107] As illustrated by communication timeline 301, the UE may transmit an uplink signal from panel 305-b before transmitting an uplink signal from panel 310-b, and may receive a downlink signal via panel 310-b before receiving a downlink signal via panel 305-b. Accordingly, the first timing advance value 2*t0 may be different from the second timing advance value 2*t1 (e.g., t0>t1), and as such, an algorithm or method by which the UE may determine the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value may be based on a reference timing configuration used by the base station to determine the transmitted timing advance.

[0108] In an example in which the timing advance value received by the UE is equal to the timing advance value of the reference panel and the reference panel is determined based on which panel receives the downlink signal first (e.g., which may be equivalent to which panel has a relatively smaller timing advance value), the base station and the UE may determine that panel 310-b is the reference panel. For example, the UE may measure a first synchronization signal block (SSB) set associated with a first TRP of the base station using panel 305-b, and may measure a second SSB set associated with a second TRP of the base station using panel 310-b. The first SSB set and the second SSB set may be transmitted from the first TRP of the base station and the second TRP of the base station, respectively. Based on the measurement, the UE may determine which panel receives the downlink signal first (e.g., panel 310-b may receive the second SSB set before panel 305-b receives the first SSB set). For example, the received timing advance value TA may be equal to 2*t1, and the UE may determine that the second timing advance value for panel 310-b is equal to 2*t1 (e.g., the UE may determine δ1=0 based on determining that panel 310-b is the reference panel). In this way, the UE may determine N based on determining N TA1 =N TA +TA to determine a second timing advance value for panel 310-b.

[0109] The UE may determine (e.g., derive) a first timing advance value for panel 305-b based on the received timing advance value and the timing of the downlink signal received via panel 305-b and panel 310-b. In some examples, the UE may determine an offset δ0 between the time when the downlink signal is received via panel 305-b and the time when the downlink signal is received via panel 310-b. In some aspects, the UE may measure the offset between two downlink signals received at different panels of the UE, which are simultaneously transmitted from different TRPs associated with a base station (e.g., to enable accurate measurement of the timing advance difference between the communication between the first TRP and panel 305-b and the communication between the second TRP and panel 310-b). In some implementations, the UE may determine that the offset δ0 is equal to 2*(t0-t1). For example, δ0=2*(t0-t1). Accordingly, the UE may determine N based on the offset δ0. TA0 =N TA +TA+δ0 to determine the total timing advance value for panel 305-b.

[0110] In an example where the timing advance value received by the UE is equal to the timing advance value of the reference panel and the reference panel is determined based on which panel has a lower panel ID, the base station and the UE may determine that panel 305-b is the reference panel (e.g., panel 305-b may be associated with a lower panel ID than panel 310-b). For example, the received timing advance value TA may be equal to 2*t0, and the UE may determine that the first timing advance value for panel 310-b is equal to 2*t0 (e.g., the UE may determine δ0=0 based on determining that panel 305-b is the reference panel). In this way, the UE may determine N based on TA0 =N TA +TA determines a first timing advance value for panel 305-b.

[0111] The UE may determine (e.g., derive) a second timing advance value for panel 310-b based on the received timing advance value and the timing of the downlink signal received via panel 305-b and panel 310-b. For example, the UE may determine an offset δ1 between the time when the downlink signal is received via panel 305-b and the time when the downlink signal is received via panel 310-b. In some aspects, the UE may measure the offset between two downlink signals received at different panels of the UE, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. In some implementations, the UE may determine that the offset δ1 is proportional to the time difference between receiving two downlink signals received at different panels of the UE, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. For example, δ1=2*(t0-t1). Accordingly, the UE may determine N based on TA1 =N TA +TA-δ1 to determine the overall timing advance value for panel 310-b.

[0112] In an example where the received timing advance value is equal to the average of the first timing advance value for panel 305-b and the second timing advance value for panel 310-b (e.g., TA = (2*t0+2*t1) / 2 = t0+t1), the UE may derive both the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value. For example, the UE may determine a first offset δ0 for panel 305-b and a second offset δ1 for panel 310-b. In some examples, the UE may determine the first offset δ0 based on a first difference between the time when the first downlink signal is received via panel 305-b and the time when the second downlink signal is received via panel 310-b, and may determine the second offset δ1 based on a second difference between the time when the first downlink signal is received via panel 305-b and the time when the second downlink signal is received via panel 310-b. For example, in some aspects, the first difference may be proportional to the time difference between receiving a first downlink signal at panel 305-b of the UE and receiving a second downlink signal at UE panel 310-b, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. For example, the second difference may be proportional to the time difference between receiving a second downlink signal at panel 310-b of the UE and receiving a first downlink signal at UE panel 305-b, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. For example, δ0=t0-t1 and δ1=t1-t0. The UE may determine a first timing advance value for panel 305-b based on the received timing advance value and the first offset, and may determine a second timing advance value for panel 310-b based on the received timing advance value and the second offset. For example, the first timing advance value may be equal to TA+δ0, and the second timing advance value may be equal to TA+δ1. Accordingly, the UE may determine N based on TA1 =N TA +TA+δ0 to determine the total timing advance value for panel 305-b, and may be determined based on N TA1 =N TA +TA+δ1 to determine the total timing advance value for panel 310-b.

[0113] As illustrated by communication timeline 302, the UE may transmit an uplink signal from panel 310-c before transmitting an uplink signal from panel 305-c, and may receive a downlink signal via panel 305-c before receiving a downlink signal via panel 310-c. Accordingly, the first timing advance value 2*t0 may be different from the second timing advance value 2*t1 (e.g., t1>t0), and as such, an algorithm or method by which the UE may determine the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value may be based on a reference timing configuration used by the base station to determine the transmitted timing advance.

[0114] In an example where the timing advance value received by the UE is equal to the timing advance value of the reference panel and the reference panel is determined based on which panel receives the downlink signal first (e.g., which may be equivalent to which panel has a relatively smaller timing advance value), the base station and the UE may determine that panel 305-c is the reference panel. For example, the received timing advance value TA may be equal to 2*t0, and the UE may determine that the first timing advance value for panel 305-c is equal to 2*t0 (e.g., the UE may determine δ0=0 based on determining that panel 305-c is the reference panel). In this way, the UE may determine N based on TA0 =N TA +TA to determine the overall timing advance value for panel 305-c.

[0115] The UE may determine (e.g., derive) a second timing advance value for panel 310-c based on the received timing advance value and the timing of the downlink signal received via panel 305-c and panel 310-c. In some examples, the UE may determine an offset δ1 between the time when the downlink signal is received via panel 305-c and the time when the downlink signal is received via panel 310-c. In some aspects, the UE may measure the offset δ1 between two downlink signals received at different panels of the UE, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with a base station (e.g., to achieve accurate measurement of the timing advance difference between the communication between the first TRP and panel 305-c and the communication between the second TRP and panel 310-c). In some implementations, the UE may determine that the offset δ1 is proportional to the time difference between the two downlink signals received at different panels of the UE, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. For example, δ1=2*(t1-t0). Accordingly, the UE may determine N based on TA1 =N TA +TA+δ1 to determine the total timing advance value for panel 310-c.

[0116] In an example where the timing advance value received by the UE is equal to the timing advance value of the reference panel and the reference panel is determined based on which panel has a lower panel ID, the base station and the UE may determine that panel 305-c is the reference panel (e.g., panel 305-c may be associated with a lower panel ID than panel 310-c). For example, the received timing advance value TA may be equal to 2*t0, and the UE may determine that the first timing advance value for panel 305-c is equal to 2*t0 (e.g., the UE may determine δ0=0 based on determining that panel 305-c is the reference panel). In this way, the UE may determine N based on TA0 =N TA +TA to determine the overall timing advance value for panel 305-c.

[0117] The UE may determine (e.g., derive) a second timing advance value for panel 310-c based on the received timing advance value and the timing of the downlink signal received via panel 305-c and panel 310-c. For example, the UE may determine an offset δ1 between the time when the downlink signal is received via panel 305-c and the time when the downlink signal is received via panel 310-c. In some aspects, the UE may determine the offset δ1 based on the time difference between two downlink signals received at different panels of the UE, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. In some implementations, the UE may determine that the offset δ1 is proportional to the time difference between receiving the first downlink signal at a reference panel of the UE (e.g., panel 305-c) and receiving the downlink signal at another panel of the UE (e.g., panel 310-c), the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. For example, δ1=2*(t1-t0). Accordingly, the UE may determine N based on the time difference between two downlink signals received at different panels of the UE, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. TA1 =N TA +TA+δ1 to determine the total timing advance value for panel 310-c.

[0118] In an example where the received timing advance value is equal to the average of the first timing advance value for panel 305-c and the second timing advance value for panel 310-c (e.g., TA = (2*t0+2*t1) / 2 = t0+t1), the UE may derive both the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value. For example, the UE may determine a first offset δ0 for panel 305-c and a second offset δ1 for panel 310-c. In some examples, the UE may determine the first offset δ0 based on a first difference between the time when the first downlink signal is received via panel 305-c and the time when the second downlink signal is received via panel 310-b, and may determine the second offset δ1 based on a second difference between the time when the first downlink signal is received via panel 305-c and the time when the second downlink signal is received via panel 310-c. For example, in some aspects, the first difference may be proportional to the time difference between receiving the first downlink signal at the panel 305-c of the UE and receiving the second downlink signal at the UE panel 310-c, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. For example, the second difference may be proportional to the time difference between receiving the second downlink signal at the panel 310-c of the UE and receiving the first downlink signal at the UE panel 305-c, the two downlink signals being transmitted simultaneously from different TRPs associated with the base station. For example, the first difference may refer to t0-t1, and the second difference may refer to t1-t0. Accordingly, δ0=t0-t1 and δ1=t1-t0. The UE may determine a first timing advance value for panel 305-c based on the received timing advance value and the first offset, and may determine a second timing advance value for panel 310-c based on the received timing advance value and the second offset. For example, the first timing advance value may be equal to TA+(t0-t1), and the second timing advance value may be equal to TA+(t1-t0). TA0 =N TA +TA+(t0-t1) to determine the total timing advance value for panel 305-c, and may be determined based on N TA1 =N TA +TA+(t1-t0) to determine the total timing advance value for panel 310-c.

[0119] In this way, the UE can determine a first timing advance value for panel 305 and a second timing advance value for panel 310, and the UE can apply the determined timing advance values ​​to the communication between the first TRP associated with the base station and panel 305 and the communication between the second TRP associated with the base station and panel 310, respectively. In this way, the base station can receive an uplink signal from the UE that is better aligned with the downlink frame maintained at the base station, which can increase the reliability of communication between the base station and the UE. Although described herein in the context of two panels (e.g., panel 305 and panel 310), the described techniques can be applied to any number of panels. For example, the UE can receive a timing advance value from the base station, and can determine any number of timing advance values ​​for any number of panels of the UE based on the received timing advance value and the timing of the downlink signal received at different panels of the UE.

[0120] Figure 4 An example of a process flow 400 for supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In some examples, the process flow 400 may implement aspects of the wireless communication system 100 and the wireless communication system 200. The process flow 400 may illustrate communications between a base station 105-b and a UE 115-b (which may be examples of corresponding devices as described herein). In some implementations, the UE 115-b may receive a timing advance value from the base station 105-b, and may derive a timing advance value for each panel of the UE 115-b based on the received timing advance value and the timing of downlink signals received at different panels of the UE 115-b.

[0121] At 405, UE 115-a may transmit one or more uplink signals to base station 105-b. For example, UE 115-a may transmit one or more transmissions from at least one of a plurality of panels of UE 115-b. In some aspects, UE 115-a may transmit a first uplink signal from a first panel of UE 115-b to a first TRP associated with base station 105-b, and transmit a second uplink from a second panel of UE 115-b to a second TRP associated with base station 105-b.

[0122] At 410, the base station 105-b may determine a timing advance value for the serving cell based on one or more uplink signals (e.g., one or more transmissions) received from the UE 115-b and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell of the UE 115-b configured for multi-panel communication. The reference timing configuration may indicate that the base station 105-b is to determine a timing advance value such that the timing advance value is equal to a timing advance value of a reference panel for the UE 115-b, or is equal to an average of the timing advance values ​​for the panels for the UE 115-b, as described herein (including with reference to Figure 2 and 3 ) is described in more detail in .

[0123] At 415, in some implementations, the base station 105-b may transmit an indication of the reference panel to the UE 115-b. For example, the base station 105-b may transmit an indication that the first panel of the UE 115-b is the reference panel. The base station 105-b may transmit the indication of the reference panel to the UE 115-b via an indication in RRC signaling, MAC-CE, or DCI.

[0124] At 420, the base station 105-b may transmit the timing advance value to the UE 115-b. The timing advance value may be a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication.

[0125] At 425, UE 115-b may determine a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based on the received timing advance value and the timing of at least one of the first downlink signal received via the first panel or the second downlink signal received via the second panel. In some examples, UE 115-b may determine the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value based on a reference timing configuration. For example, UE 115-b may identify a method or algorithm that UE 115-a may use to determine the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value based on the reference timing configuration.

[0126] In some implementations, the received timing advance value may be equal to the timing advance value for the reference panel of UE 115-b, and UE 115-b may determine the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value based on determining the reference panel. In some examples, UE 115-b may determine the reference panel of UE 115-b based on signaling from base station 105-b at 415. In some other examples, UE 115-b may determine which panel is associated with a lower panel ID. For example, UE 115-b may determine that the first panel is associated with a lower panel ID, and may determine that the first panel is the reference panel based on the association of the first panel with the lower panel ID. In some other examples, UE 115-b may determine the reference panel based on which panel receives the downlink signal first or which panel receives the downlink signal last. For example, UE 115-b may receive the first downlink signal via the first panel after receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel, and UE 115-b may determine that the first panel is the reference panel based on receiving the first downlink signal after the second downlink signal. Alternatively, UE 115-b may receive a first downlink signal via the first panel before receiving a second downlink signal via the second panel, and UE 115-b may determine that the first panel is a reference panel based on receiving the first downlink signal before the second downlink signal. When determining the reference panel of UE 115-b (e.g., when determining that the first panel is the reference panel), UE 115-b may derive a timing advance value for each remaining panel (e.g., the second panel) based on determining an offset from a received timing advance value based on the timing of downlink signals received via the first panel and the second panel of UE 115-b.

[0127] In some other implementations, the received timing advance value may be equal to an average of the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value. In such implementations, UE 115-b may derive a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based on determining a first offset associated with the first panel and a second offset associated with the second panel based on downlink signals received via the first panel and the second panel of UE 115-b. Figure 3 ) describes additional details and examples related to determining a first timing advance value for a first panel and a second timing advance value for a second panel.

[0128] At 430, UE 115-b may communicate with one or more TRPs associated with base station 105-b based on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel. For example, UE 115-b may apply the first timing advance value to communications (e.g., uplink signaling) between a first TRP associated with base station 105-b and a first panel of UE 115-a, and may apply the second timing advance value to communications (e.g., uplink signaling) between a second TRP associated with base station 105-a and a second panel of user equipment 115-b.

[0129] Figure 5 A block diagram 500 of a device 505 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmission according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The device 505 can be an example of aspects of the UE 115 as described herein. The device 505 may include a receiver 510, a communication manager 515, and a transmitter 520. The device 505 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be in communication with each other (e.g., via one or more buses). For example, the receiver 510 may communicate with the communication manager 515 via a first link, which may be an example of a wired link, a wireless link, or any other link coupled to the receiver 510 and the communication manager 515. In some examples, the receiver 510 may send a received timing advance value to the communication manager 515 via the first link. The communication manager 515 may communicate with the transmitter 520 via a second link, which may also be an example of a wired link, a wireless link, or any other link coupled to the communication manager 515 and the transmitter 520. In some examples, communications manager 515 may send information related to uplink signaling and timing advance values ​​to transmitter 520 via the second link.

[0130] Receiver 510 may receive information, such as packets, user data, or control information associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, and information related to timing advance indications for multi-panel uplink transmissions, etc.). The information may be passed to other components of device 505. Receiver 510 may be a reference Figure 8 Examples of aspects of the described transceiver 820. The receiver 510 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of antennas.

[0131] The communication manager 515 may receive a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication from a base station; determine a first timing advance value for a first panel and a second timing advance value for a second panel based on the received timing advance value and the timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; and communicate with one or more TRPs associated with the base station based on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel. The communication manager 515 may be an example of aspects of the communication manager 810 described herein.

[0132] The communication manager 515 or its subcomponents may be implemented in hardware, in code (e.g., software or firmware) executed by a processor, or any combination thereof. If implemented in code executed by a processor, the functions of the communication manager 515 or its subcomponents may be performed by a general purpose processor, a DSP, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an FPGA or other programmable logic device designed to perform the functions described in the present disclosure, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof.

[0133] The communication manager 515 or its subcomponents may be physically located at various locations, including being distributed such that portions of functionality are implemented by one or more physical components at different physical locations. In some examples, according to various aspects of the present disclosure, the communication manager 515 or its subcomponents may be separate and distinct components. In some examples, according to various aspects of the present disclosure, the communication manager 515 or its subcomponents may be combined with one or more other hardware components, including but not limited to input / output (I / O) components, a transceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or more other components described in the present disclosure, or a combination thereof.

[0134] The transmitter 520 may transmit signals generated by other components of the device 505. In some examples, the transmitter 520 may be co-located with the receiver 510 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 520 may be a reference Figure 8 Examples of aspects of the described transceiver 820. The transmitter 520 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of antennas.

[0135] In some examples, the communication manager 515 may be implemented as an integrated circuit or chipset for a mobile device modem, and the receiver 510 and transmitter 520 may be implemented as analog components (e.g., amplifiers, filters, antennas) coupled to the mobile device modem to enable wireless transmission and reception on one or more frequency bands.

[0136] The communication manager 515 as described herein may be implemented to achieve one or more potential advantages. In some implementations of the present disclosure, the communication manager 515 may derive multiple timing advance values ​​for multiple panels of the device 505 based on receiving a single timing advance value from a base station. Based on receiving a single timing advance value, the device 505 may monitor fewer resources to find signaling from the base station, which may enable the device 505 to power down one or more processing components of the device 505 associated with receiving signaling from the base station for a longer duration, or use resources that would otherwise be used to receive control signaling from the base station to communicate data with the base station. In this way, the device 505 can improve power conservation and increase the battery life of the device 505, or improve the spectral efficiency of the communication link between the device 505 and the base station, or both.

[0137] Figure 6 A block diagram 600 of a device 605 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The device 605 may be an example of aspects of the device 505 or UE 115 as described herein. The device 605 may include a receiver 610, a communication manager 615, and a transmitter 630. The device 605 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be in communication with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0138] The receiver 610 may receive information, such as packets, user data, or control information associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, and information related to timing advance indications for multi-panel uplink transmissions, etc.). The information may be passed to other components of the device 605. The receiver 610 may be a reference Figure 8 Examples of aspects of the described transceiver 820. The receiver 610 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of antennas.

[0139] The communication manager 615 may be an example of aspects of the communication manager 515 as described herein. The communication manager 615 may include a timing advance manager 620 and a TRP manager 625. The communication manager 615 may be an example of aspects of the communication manager 810 as described herein.

[0140] The timing advance manager 620 may receive a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication from a base station; and determine a first timing advance value for a first panel and a second timing advance value for a second panel based on the received timing advance value and a timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel. The TRP manager 625 may communicate with one or more TRPs associated with the base station based on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

[0141] The transmitter 630 may transmit signals generated by other components of the device 605. In some examples, the transmitter 630 may be co-located with the receiver 610 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 630 may be a reference Figure 8 Examples of aspects of the described transceiver 820. The transmitter 630 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of antennas.

[0142] Figure 7 A block diagram 700 of a communication manager 705 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The communication manager 705 may be an example of aspects of the communication manager 515, the communication manager 615, or the communication manager 810 described herein. The communication manager 705 may include a timing advance manager 710, a TRP manager 715, a panel manager 720, a reference panel manager 725, and an offset manager 730. Each of these modules may communicate directly or indirectly with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0143] The timing advance manager 710 may receive a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication from a base station. In some examples, the timing advance manager 710 may determine a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based on the received timing advance value and the timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel.

[0144] In some examples, the timing advance manager 710 may determine a second timing advance value for the second panel based on the received timing advance value and the offset. In some examples, the timing advance manager 710 may determine a first timing advance value for the first panel based on the received timing advance value and the first offset. In some examples, the timing advance manager 710 may determine a second timing advance value for the second panel based on the received timing advance value and the second offset.

[0145] The TRP manager 715 may communicate with one or more TRPs associated with the base station based on a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel.

[0146] The panel manager 720 may determine that the first panel is a reference panel, wherein applying the timing advance value to the first panel is based on determining that the first panel is the reference panel.

[0147] The reference panel manager 725 may receive an indication from the base station that the first panel is a reference panel. In some examples, the reference panel manager 725 may receive a first downlink signal via the first panel after receiving a second downlink signal via the second panel, wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based on receiving the first downlink signal via the first panel after receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel. In some examples, the reference panel manager 725 may receive a first downlink signal via the first panel before receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel, wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based on receiving the first downlink signal via the first panel before receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel.

[0148] The offset manager 730 may determine the offset based on a difference between a time when the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time when the second downlink signal is received by the second panel. In some examples, the offset manager 730 may determine the first offset and the second offset based on a difference between a time when the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time when the second downlink signal is received by the second panel.

[0149] In some examples, the offset manager 730 may determine the first offset based on a first difference between the time when the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and the time when the second downlink signal is received by the second panel. In some examples, the offset manager 730 may determine the second offset based on a second difference between the time when the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and the time when the second downlink signal is received by the second panel.

[0150] Figure 8 A diagram of a system 800 including a device 805 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The device 805 may be an example of a device 505, a device 605, or a UE 115 as described herein or include components of these devices. The device 805 may include components for two-way voice and data communications, including components for transmitting and receiving communications, including a communication manager 810, an I / O controller 815, a transceiver 820, an antenna 825, a memory 830, and a processor 840. These components may be in electronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., a bus 845).

[0151] The communication manager 810 may receive a timing advance value for a service cell configured for multi-panel communication from a base station; determine a first timing advance value for a first panel and a second timing advance value for a second panel based on the received timing advance value and the timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; and communicate with one or more TRPs associated with the base station based on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

[0152] I / O controller 815 can manage input and output signals of device 805. I / O controller 815 can also manage peripheral devices that are not integrated into device 805. In some cases, I / O controller 815 can represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral device. In some cases, I / O controller 815 can utilize an operating system, such as Or another known operating system. In other cases, I / O controller 815 may represent or interact with a modem, keyboard, mouse, touch screen, or similar device. In some cases, I / O controller 815 may be implemented as part of a processor. In some cases, a user may interact with device 815 via I / O controller 805 or via hardware components controlled by I / O controller 815.

[0153] The transceiver 820 may communicate bidirectionally via one or more antennas, wired or wireless links, as described above. For example, the transceiver 820 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicate bidirectionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 820 may also include a modem to modulate packets and provide the modulated packets to an antenna for transmission, and demodulate packets received from an antenna.

[0154] In some cases, a wireless device may include a single antenna 825. However, in some cases, the device may have more than one antenna 825, which may be capable of transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions concurrently.

[0155] The memory 830 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 830 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code 835 including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform the various functions described herein. In some cases, the memory 830 may include, among other things, a BIOS that may control basic hardware or software operations, such as interaction with peripheral components or devices.

[0156] The processor 840 may include an intelligent hardware device (e.g., a general purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof). In some cases, the processor 840 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In other cases, the memory controller may be integrated into the processor 840. The processor 840 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 830) to cause the device 805 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks that support timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions).

[0157] The code 835 may include instructions for implementing various aspects of the present disclosure, including instructions for supporting wireless communications. The code 835 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as a system memory or other type of memory. In some cases, the code 835 may not be directly executed by the processor 840, but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform the functions described herein.

[0158] Fig. 9 A block diagram 900 of a device 905 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The device 905 may be an example of aspects of a base station 105 as described herein. The device 905 may include a receiver 910, a communication manager 915, and a transmitter 920. The device 905 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be in communication with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0159] The receiver 910 may receive information, such as packets, user data, or control information associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, and information related to timing advance indications for multi-panel uplink transmissions, etc.). The information may be passed to other components of the device 905. The receiver 910 may be a reference Fig.12 Examples of various aspects of the described transceiver 1220. The receiver 910 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of antennas.

[0160] The communication manager 915 may receive from the UE one or more transmissions from at least one of the multiple panels of the UE; determine a timing advance value for the serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell configured for multi-panel communication for the UE; transmit the timing advance value to the UE; and communicate with the UE via one or more TRPs associated with the base station. The communication manager 915 may be an example of aspects of the communication manager 1210 described herein.

[0161] The communication manager 915 or its subcomponents may be implemented in hardware, in code (e.g., software or firmware) executed by a processor, or any combination thereof. If implemented in code executed by a processor, the functions of the communication manager 915 or its subcomponents may be performed by a general purpose processor, a DSP, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an FPGA or other programmable logic device designed to perform the functions described in the present disclosure, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof.

[0162] The communication manager 915 or its subcomponents may be physically located at various locations, including being distributed such that portions of functionality are implemented by one or more physical components at different physical locations. In some examples, according to various aspects of the present disclosure, the communication manager 915 or its subcomponents may be separate and distinct components. In some examples, according to various aspects of the present disclosure, the communication manager 915 or its subcomponents may be combined with one or more other hardware components, including but not limited to input / output (I / O) components, a transceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or more other components described in the present disclosure, or a combination thereof.

[0163] The transmitter 920 may transmit signals generated by other components of the device 905. In some examples, the transmitter 920 may be co-located with the receiver 910 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 920 may be a reference Fig.12 Examples of various aspects of the described transceiver 1220. The transmitter 920 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of antennas.

[0164] As described herein, device 905 may determine a timing advance for each panel of the UE used by the UE to communicate with a TRP associated with device 905, and may signal a single timing advance value to the UE. In this way, device 905 may reduce the amount of resources used by device 905 for control signaling to the UE, which may improve the spectral efficiency of the communication link between device 905 and the UE. Further, based on reducing signaling to the UE, device 905 may also reduce interference that may potentially be generated due to signaling between device 905 and the UE, which may increase the likelihood of successful wireless communication between other devices in the cell and increase the capacity of the cell.

[0165] Fig.10A block diagram 1000 of a device 1005 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The device 1005 may be an example of aspects of the device 905 or base station 105 as described herein. The device 1005 may include a receiver 1010, a communication manager 1015, and a transmitter 1035. The device 1005 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be in communication with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0166] The receiver 1010 may receive information, such as packets, user data, or control information associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, and information related to timing advance indications for multi-panel uplink transmissions, etc.). The information may be passed to other components of the device 1005. The receiver 1010 may be a reference Fig.12 Examples of various aspects of the described transceiver 1220. The receiver 1010 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of antennas.

[0167] The communication manager 1015 may be an example of aspects of the communication manager 915 as described herein. The communication manager 1015 may include an uplink manager 1025, a timing advance manager 1025, and a TRP manager 1030. The communication manager 1015 may be an example of aspects of the communication manager 1210 described herein.

[0168] The uplink manager 1020 may receive from the UE one or more transmissions from at least one of the plurality of panels of the UE. The timing advance manager 1025 may determine a timing advance value for the serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell configured for multi-panel communication for the UE, and transmit the timing advance value to the UE. The TRP manager 1030 may communicate with the UE via one or more TRPs associated with the base station.

[0169] The transmitter 1035 can transmit signals generated by other components of the device 1005. In some examples, the transmitter 1035 can be co-located with the receiver 1010 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 1035 can be a reference Fig.12 Examples of various aspects of the described transceiver 1220. The transmitter 1035 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of antennas.

[0170] Fig.11A block diagram 1100 of a communication manager 1105 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The communication manager 1105 may be an example of aspects of the communication manager 915, the communication manager 1015, or the communication manager 1210 described herein. The communication manager 1105 may include an uplink manager 1110, a timing advance manager 1115, a TRP manager 1120, and a reference panel manager 1125. Each of these modules may communicate directly or indirectly with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0171] The uplink manager 1110 may receive from the UE one or more transmissions from at least one of a plurality of panels of the UE.

[0172] The timing advance manager 1115 may determine a timing advance value for the serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell configured for multi-panel communication for the UE. In some examples, the timing advance manager 1115 may transmit the timing advance value to the UE.

[0173] In some examples, the timing advance manager 1115 may determine that the first panel is associated with a larger timing advance value than the second panel, wherein determining that the first panel is a reference panel is based on determining that the first panel is associated with the larger timing advance value. In some examples, the timing advance manager 1115 may determine that the first panel is associated with a smaller timing advance value than the second panel, wherein determining that the first panel is a reference panel is based on determining that the first panel is associated with the smaller timing advance value.

[0174] The TRP manager 1120 may communicate with the UE via one or more TRPs associated with the base station.

[0175] The reference panel manager 1125 may determine that the first panel is a reference panel based on the reference timing configuration, wherein based on determining that the first panel is a reference panel, the transmitted timing advance value is equal to the first timing advance value for the first panel. In some examples, the reference panel manager 1125 may transmit an indication to the UE that the first panel is a reference panel.

[0176] Fig.12A diagram of a system 1200 including a device 1205 supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The device 1205 may be an example of or include components of a device 905, a device 1005, or a base station 105 as described herein. The device 1205 may include components for two-way voice and data communications, including components for transmitting and receiving communications, including a communications manager 1210, a network communications manager 1215, a transceiver 1220, an antenna 1225, a memory 1230, a processor 1240, and an inter-station communications manager 1245. These components may be in electronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., a bus 1250).

[0177] The communication manager 1210 may receive one or more transmissions from at least one of a plurality of panels of the UE from the UE; determine a timing advance value for a serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication for the UE; transmit the timing advance value to the UE; and communicate with the UE via one or more TRPs associated with a base station.

[0178] The network communications manager 1215 may manage communications with the core network (eg, via one or more wired backhaul links). For example, the network communications manager 1215 may manage the delivery of data communications for client devices, such as one or more UEs 115.

[0179] The transceiver 1220 may communicate bidirectionally via one or more antennas, wired or wireless links, as described above. For example, the transceiver 1220 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicate bidirectionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 1220 may also include a modem to modulate packets and provide the modulated packets to an antenna for transmission, and demodulate packets received from an antenna.

[0180] In some cases, a wireless device may include a single antenna 1225. However, in some cases, the device may have more than one antenna 1225, which may be capable of transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions concurrently.

[0181] Memory 1230 may include RAM, ROM, or a combination thereof. Memory 1230 may store computer readable code 1235 including instructions that, when executed by a processor (e.g., processor 1240), cause the device to perform various functions described herein. In some cases, memory 1230 may include, among other things, a BIOS that may control basic hardware or software operations, such as interaction with peripheral components or devices.

[0182] Processor 1240 may include an intelligent hardware device (e.g., a general purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof). In some cases, processor 1240 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In some cases, the memory controller may be integrated into processor 1240. Processor 1240 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 1230) to cause device 1205 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks that support timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmission).

[0183] The inter-site communication manager 1245 may manage communications with other base stations 105 and may include a controller or scheduler for controlling communications with UE 115 in cooperation with other base stations 105. For example, the inter-site communication manager 1245 may coordinate scheduling of transmissions to UE 115 for various interference mitigation techniques, such as beamforming or joint transmission. In some examples, the inter-site communication manager 1245 may provide an X2 interface within an LTE / LTE-A wireless communication network technology to provide communications between base stations 105.

[0184] The code 1235 may include instructions for implementing various aspects of the present disclosure, including instructions for supporting wireless communications. The code 1235 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as a system memory or other type of memory. In some cases, the code 1235 may not be directly executed by the processor 1240, but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform the functions described herein.

[0185] Fig.13 A flow chart illustrating a method 1300 for supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The operations of the method 1300 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1300 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. Figures 5 to 8 In some examples, the UE may execute an instruction set to control the functional elements of the UE to perform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may use dedicated hardware to perform various aspects of the functions described below.

[0186] At 1305, the UE may receive, from the base station, a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication. To receive the timing advance value, the UE may identify a resource allocation (e.g., time and frequency resources) on which the base station may transmit the timing advance value, demodulate a transmission on the resource allocation, and decode the demodulated transmission to obtain bits indicating the timing advance value. The operations of 1305 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1305 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 5 to 8 The described timing advance manager is implemented.

[0187] In some examples, the UE may receive a timing advance value as part of a timing advance configuration for multi-panel communications for the UE. As described herein, signaling a single timing advance value to configure timing advances for multiple panels of a UE may reduce signaling overhead and improve spectral efficiency of a communication link between a base station and a UE (e.g., via one or more TRPs).

[0188] At 1310, the UE may determine a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based on the received timing advance value and the timing of at least one of the first downlink signal received via the first panel or the second downlink signal received via the second panel. The UE may use a method or algorithm for determining the first timing advance for the first panel and the second timing advance for the second panel based on the reference timing configuration, such as referring to Figure 3 For example, the received timing advance value may be equal to the timing advance value of the reference panel for the UE, or may be equal to the average of the timing advances of each panel for the UE, etc. The operation of 1310 may be performed according to the method described herein. In some examples, various aspects of the operation of 1310 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 5 to 8 The described timing advance manager is implemented.

[0189] At 1315, the UE may communicate with one or more TRPs associated with the base station based on a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel. For example, the UE may identify resource allocations (e.g., time and frequency resources) for transmitting or receiving or both with one or more TRPs. This communication may include encoding, modulating signals, and transmitting signals to one or more TRPs, or receiving signals, demodulating, and decoding signals from one or more TRPs. In some examples, the UE may apply the first timing advance value to communications (e.g., uplink signaling) from the first panel to the first TRP associated with the base station, and may apply the second timing advance value to communications (e.g., uplink signaling) from the second panel to the second TRP associated with the base station. The operations of 1315 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1315 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 5 to 8 The TRP manager described is executed.

[0190] Fig.14 A flow chart illustrating a method 1400 for supporting timing advance indication for multi-panel uplink transmissions according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The operations of the method 1400 may be implemented by the base station 105 or components thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1400 may be implemented by the base station 105 or components thereof as described herein. Figures 9 to 12 In some examples, the base station may execute an instruction set to control the functional elements of the base station to perform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the base station may use dedicated hardware to perform various aspects of the functions described below.

[0191] At 1405, the base station may receive from the UE one or more transmissions from at least one of the plurality of panels of the UE. To receive the one or more transmissions from at least one of the plurality of panels of the UE, the base station may identify a resource allocation (e.g., time and frequency resources) on which the UE may transmit, demodulate the transmission on the resource allocation, and decode the demodulated transmission to obtain bits indicating the transmission. In some examples, the one or more transmissions from the UE may refer to uplink signaling that the base station may measure to determine a timing advance value for each panel of the UE that the UE uses to communicate with a TRP associated with the base station. The operations of 1405 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1405 may be performed as described in reference to Figures 9 to 12 The described uplink manager is executed.

[0192] At 1410, the base station may determine a timing advance value for the serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell configured for multi-panel communication for the UE. The base station may use a method or algorithm for determining a timing advance value based on the reference timing configuration, such as referring to Figure 3 In some examples, the base station may set the timing advance value to be equal to the timing advance value of the reference panel of the UE. In some other examples, the base station may set the timing advance value to be equal to the average of the timing advance values ​​of the panel for the UE. The operations of 1410 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1410 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 9 to 12 The described timing advance manager is implemented.

[0193] At 1415, the base station may transmit the timing advance value to the UE. To transmit the timing advance value, the base station may identify a resource allocation (e.g., time and frequency resources) on which the base station may transmit the timing advance value, encode the timing advance value to determine a bit indicating the timing advance value, and modulate the timing advance value on the resource allocation. The operations of 1415 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1415 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 9 to 12 The described timing advance manager is implemented.

[0194] In some examples, the base station may transmit a timing advance value as part of a timing advance configuration for multi-panel communications for a UE. As described herein, signaling a single timing advance value to configure timing advances for multiple panels of a UE may reduce signaling overhead and improve spectral efficiency of a communication link between a base station and a UE (e.g., via one or more TRPs).

[0195] At 1420, the base station may communicate with the UE via one or more TRPs associated with the base station. For example, the base station may identify resource allocations (e.g., time and frequency resources) for transmitting or receiving, or both, with the UE via one or more TRPs. This communication may include encoding, modulating signals and transmitting to the UE via one or more TRPs, or receiving signals from the UE via one or more TRPs, demodulating, and decoding signals. In some examples, the base station may receive uplink signaling from the UE that is time-aligned with a downlink frame at the base station based on transmitting a timing advance value to the UE. The operations of 1420 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1420 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 9 to 12 The TRP manager described is executed.

[0196] It should be noted that the methods described herein describe possible implementations, and that the various operations and steps may be rearranged or otherwise modified and other implementations are possible. Furthermore, aspects from two or more methods may be combined.

[0197] Although aspects of LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR systems may be described for example purposes, and LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR terminology may be used in much of the description, the techniques described herein may also be applicable to networks other than LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR networks. For example, the described techniques may be applied to various other wireless communication systems, such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, and other systems and radio technologies not explicitly mentioned herein.

[0198] The information and signals described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout this description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0199] The various illustrative blocks and components described in conjunction with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a CPU, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration).

[0200] The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted by a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Other examples and implementations fall within the scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described herein may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof. Features that implement the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed so that parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[0201] Computer readable medium includes both non-transient computer storage medium and communication medium, and it includes any medium that facilitates computer program to transfer from one place to another place.Non-transient storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by general or special-purpose computer.As an example and not limitation, non-transient computer readable medium can include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or can be used to carry or store instruction or data structure form of desired program code means and can be accessed by general or special-purpose computer or general or special-purpose processor any other non-transient medium.Similarly, any connection is also properly referred to as computer readable medium.For example, if software is transmitted from website, server or other remote source using coaxial cable, optical fiber cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless technology such as infrared, radio and microwave, then the coaxial cable, optical fiber cable, twisted pair, DSL or wireless technology such as infrared, radio and microwave are just included in the definition of computer readable medium. Disk and disc as used herein include CDs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs, where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0202] As used herein (including in the claims), "or" used in a list of items (e.g., a list of items with a phrase such as "at least one of" or "one or more of") indicates an inclusive list, so that, for example, a list of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Similarly, as used herein, the phrase "based on" should not be interpreted as referring to a closed set of conditions. For example, an example step described as "based on condition A" may be based on both condition A and condition B without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase "based on" should be interpreted in the same manner as the phrase "based at least in part on."

[0203] In the accompanying drawings, similar components or features may have the same reference number. In addition, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference number with a dash and a second reference number that distinguishes between similar components. If only the first reference number is used in the specification, the description may apply to any of the similar components having the same first reference number regardless of the second reference number, or other subsequent reference numbers.

[0204] The descriptions set forth herein in conjunction with the accompanying drawings describe example configurations and do not represent all examples that can be implemented or fall within the scope of the claims. The term "example" as used herein means "used as an example, instance, or illustration" and does not mean "better than" or "better than other examples." This detailed description includes specific details to provide an understanding of the described techniques. However, these techniques may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.

[0205] The description herein is provided to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to the present disclosure will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, and the universal principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein, but should be granted the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications; determining a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; as well as communicating with one or more transmit-receive points associated with a network node based at least in part on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel, the method further comprising determining that the first panel is a reference panel, and wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based at least in part on one of: receiving an indication that the first panel is the reference panel; the first panel being associated with a first panel identifier that is lower than a second panel identifier associated with the second panel; receiving the first downlink signal via the first panel after receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel; or The first downlink signal is received via the first panel before the second downlink signal is received via the second panel. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the timing advance value to the first panel is based at least in part on determining that the first panel is the reference panel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication is received via at least one of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or downlink control information (DCI).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the second timing advance value for the second panel comprises: determining an offset based at least in part on a difference between a time at which the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time at which the second downlink signal is received by the second panel; as well as The second timing advance value for the second panel is determined based at least in part on the received timing advance value and the offset.

5. A method for wireless communication at a network node, comprising: receiving one or more transmissions from at least one panel of a plurality of panels of a user equipment (UE); determining a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications for the UE based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell; transmitting the timing advance value; as well as communicating with the UE via one or more transmission reception points associated with the network node, the method further comprising determining that a first panel is a reference panel, and wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based at least in part on one of: said reference timing configuration; the first panel being associated with a first panel identifier that is lower than a second panel identifier associated with the second panel; the first panel is associated with a larger timing advance value than the second panel; or The first panel is associated with a smaller timing advance value than the second panel.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein based at least in part on determining that the first panel is the reference panel, the transmitted timing advance value is equal to a first timing advance value for the first panel.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: An indication is transmitted to the UE that the first panel is the reference panel.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication is transmitted via at least one of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or downlink control information (DCI).

9. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: processor; a memory coupled to the processor; as well as instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications; determining a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; as well as communicating with one or more transmit-receive points associated with a network node based at least in part on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to determine that the first panel is a reference panel, and wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based at least in part on one of: receiving an indication that the first panel is the reference panel; the first panel being associated with a first panel identifier that is lower than a second panel identifier associated with the second panel; receiving the first downlink signal via the first panel after receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel; or The first downlink signal is received via the first panel before the second downlink signal is received via the second panel.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein applying the timing advance value to the first panel is based at least in part on determining that the first panel is the reference panel.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the indication is received via at least one of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or downlink control information (DCI).

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions for determining the second timing advance value for the second panel are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: determining an offset based at least in part on a difference between a time at which the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time at which the second downlink signal is received by the second panel; and The second timing advance value for the second panel is determined based at least in part on the received timing advance value and the offset.

13. An apparatus for wireless communication at a network node, comprising: processor; a memory coupled to the processor; as well as instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving one or more transmissions from at least one panel of a plurality of panels of a user equipment (UE); determining a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications for the UE based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell; transmitting the timing advance value; as well as communicating with the UE via one or more transmission reception points associated with the network node, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to determine that a first panel is a reference panel, and wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based at least in part on one of: said reference timing configuration; the first panel being associated with a first panel identifier that is lower than a second panel identifier associated with the second panel; The first panel is associated with a larger timing advance value than the second panel; or the first panel is associated with a smaller timing advance value than the second panel.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein based at least in part on determining that the first panel is the reference panel, the transmitted timing advance value is equal to a first timing advance value for the first panel.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: An indication is transmitted that the first panel is the reference panel.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the indication is transmitted via at least one of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or downlink control information (DCI).

17. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: means for receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications; means for determining a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and the timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; as well as means for communicating with one or more transmission reception points associated with a network node based at least in part on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel, the UE further comprising means for determining that the first panel is a reference panel, and wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based at least in part on one of: receiving an indication that the first panel is the reference panel; the first panel being associated with a first panel identifier that is lower than a second panel identifier associated with the second panel; receiving the first downlink signal via the first panel after receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel; or The first downlink signal is received via the first panel before the second downlink signal is received via the second panel.

18. An apparatus for wireless communication at a network node, comprising: means for receiving one or more transmissions from at least one panel of a plurality of panels of a user equipment (UE); means for determining a timing advance value for a serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications for the UE; means for transmitting said timing advance value; as well as means for communicating with the UE via one or more transmission reception points associated with the network node, wherein the network node further comprises means for determining that a first panel is a reference panel, and wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based at least in part on one of: said reference timing configuration; the first panel being associated with a first panel identifier that is lower than a second panel identifier associated with the second panel; the first panel is associated with a larger timing advance value than the second panel; or The first panel is associated with a smaller timing advance value than the second panel.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to: receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications; determining a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; as well as communicating with one or more transmit-receive points associated with a network node based at least in part on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel, the instructions further being executable by the processor to determine that the first panel is a reference panel, and wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based at least in part on one of: receiving an indication that the first panel is the reference panel; the first panel being associated with a first panel identifier that is lower than a second panel identifier associated with the second panel; receiving the first downlink signal via the first panel after receiving the second downlink signal via the second panel; or The first downlink signal is received via the first panel before the second downlink signal is received via the second panel.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a network node, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to: receiving one or more transmissions from at least one panel of a plurality of panels of a user equipment (UE); determining a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications for the UE based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell; transmitting the timing advance value; as well as communicating with the UE via one or more transmission reception points associated with the network node, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to determine that a first panel is a reference panel, and wherein determining that the first panel is the reference panel is based at least in part on one of: said reference timing configuration; the first panel being associated with a first panel identifier that is lower than a second panel identifier associated with the second panel; The first panel is associated with a larger timing advance value than the second panel; or the first panel is associated with a smaller timing advance value than the second panel.

21. A method for wireless communication at a network node, comprising: receiving one or more transmissions from at least one panel of a plurality of panels of a user equipment (UE); determining a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications for the UE based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell; transmitting the timing advance value, wherein the transmitted timing advance value is an average of the timing advance values ​​of the plurality of panels for the UE; as well as Communicating with the UE via one or more transmission and reception points associated with the network node.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the transmitted timing advance value is based at least in part on an average of a first timing advance value for a first panel of the UE and a second timing advance value for a second panel of the UE.

23. An apparatus for wireless communication at a network node, comprising: processor; a memory coupled to the processor; as well as instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving one or more transmissions from at least one panel of a plurality of panels of a user equipment (UE); determining a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications for the UE based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell; transmitting the timing advance value, wherein the transmitted timing advance value is an average of the timing advance values ​​of the plurality of panels for the UE; as well as Communicating with the UE via one or more transmission and reception points associated with the network node.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the transmitted timing advance value is based at least in part on an average of a first timing advance value for a first panel of the UE and a second timing advance value for a second panel of the UE.

25. An apparatus for wireless communication at a network node, comprising: means for receiving one or more transmissions from at least one panel of a plurality of panels of a user equipment (UE); means for determining a timing advance value for a serving cell based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications for the UE; means for transmitting the timing advance value, wherein the transmitted timing advance value is an average of the timing advance values ​​of the plurality of panels for the UE; as well as Means for communicating with the UE via one or more transmission reception points associated with the network node.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the transmitted timing advance value is based at least in part on an average of a first timing advance value for a first panel of the UE and a second timing advance value for a second panel of the UE.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a network node, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to: receiving one or more transmissions from at least one panel of a plurality of panels of a user equipment (UE); determining a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communications for the UE based at least in part on the received one or more transmissions and a reference timing configuration for the serving cell; transmitting the timing advance value, wherein the transmitted timing advance value is an average of the timing advance values ​​of the plurality of panels for the UE; as well as Communicating with the UE via one or more transmission and reception points associated with the network node.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the transmitted timing advance value is based at least in part on an average of a first timing advance value for a first panel of the UE and a second timing advance value for a second panel of the UE.

29. A method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication, wherein the received timing advance value is an average of timing advance values ​​for a plurality of panels of the UE; determining a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; as well as Communicating with one or more transmit-receive points associated with a network node based at least in part on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein determining the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel comprises: determining a first offset and a second offset based at least in part on a difference between a time when the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time when the second downlink signal is received by the second panel; determining the first timing advance value for the first panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and the first offset; as well as The second timing advance value for the second panel is determined based at least in part on the received timing advance value and the second offset.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein determining the first offset and the second offset comprises: determining the first offset based at least in part on a first difference between a time at which the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time at which the second downlink signal is received by the second panel; as well as The second offset is determined based at least in part on a second difference between a time at which the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time at which the second downlink signal is received by the second panel.

32. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: processor; a memory coupled to the processor; as well as instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication, wherein the received timing advance value is an average of timing advance values ​​for a plurality of panels of the UE; determining a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; as well as Communicating with one or more transmit-receive points associated with a network node based at least in part on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the instructions for determining the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: determining a first offset and a second offset based at least in part on a difference between a time when the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time when the second downlink signal is received by the second panel; determining the first timing advance value for the first panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and the first offset; as well as The second timing advance value for the second panel is determined based at least in part on the received timing advance value and the second offset.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein: The instructions for determining the first offset and the second offset are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: determining the first offset based at least in part on a first difference between a time at which the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time at which the second downlink signal is received by the second panel; as well as The second offset is determined based at least in part on a second difference between a time at which the first downlink signal is received by the first panel and a time at which the second downlink signal is received by the second panel.

35. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: means for receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication, wherein the received timing advance value is an average of timing advance values ​​for a plurality of panels of the UE; means for determining a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and the timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; as well as Means for communicating with one or more transmit-receive points associated with a network node based at least in part on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

36. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to: receiving a timing advance value for a serving cell configured for multi-panel communication, wherein the received timing advance value is an average of timing advance values ​​for a plurality of panels of the UE; determining a first timing advance value for the first panel and a second timing advance value for the second panel based at least in part on the received timing advance value and timing of at least one of a first downlink signal received via the first panel or a second downlink signal received via the second panel; as well as Communicating with one or more transmit-receive points associated with a network node based at least in part on the first timing advance value for the first panel and the second timing advance value for the second panel.

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